


Out of the Mouths of Babes

by FakePlastikTrees



Category: Damages
Genre: F/F, Post Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-15
Updated: 2014-05-15
Packaged: 2018-01-24 21:05:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1617047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FakePlastikTrees/pseuds/FakePlastikTrees
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Off a prompt from Ubiquitousmixie: Ellen's daughter is older and is writing a research paper on Patty, it catches Ellen off guard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out of the Mouths of Babes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [UbiquitousMixie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/UbiquitousMixie/gifts).



 

The words seemed to grimly grin up at Ellen, straight out of the page, wrinkled at the corner and smudged with something resembling lip-gloss. It occurred to her then, that a name should not give off such threatening energy. But it did. It radiated threat, along with that smug superiority that went hand in hand with that possessive, controlling personality.

 

After further consideration, Ellen convinced herself that it was in effect a perfectly normal reaction, seeing the name written out in her daughter’s handwriting. She’d gone to extreme lengths to keep that particular chapter of her life closed and far away from her daughter; she’d fought that nagging instinct in favor of the child. And now there it was, in neat cursive lettering and blue ink, number 2 right beneath Hillary Clinton in a list of Influential Women in American Politics.

 

_Patricia C. Hewes._

 

In parenthesis, it read ‘last twenty years’ and it was underlined several times in red ink.

 

Now that Patty had a seat in The Supreme Court, one would suppose she qualified for the assignment, however, Ellen wasn’t so sure how comfortable she was with this. And why was she so gravely alert? It was a visceral reaction, this trembling hand of hers as she lifted the notebook and read little notes scribbled down here and there, the way her breath seemed to grow short suddenly at the thought of this ghost from her past. There couldn’t have been a long period of research. So far, all Ellen’s daughter had scribbled down were trivial facts, most likely pulled right out of Wikipedia and maybe a couple of articles searched for in Google. Nothing very personal, aside from the Patty’s birthday.

 

Ellen recalled Alex Benjamin then, and briefly wondered what had become of the blonde, that poor, hopeful girl that never really had a chance and instead of making a name for herself in one of the most prestigious Law Firms in the country, fell hostage to Patty and Ellen’s petty mind-games. And to what avail? What did they gain from that? Each other, perhaps. She thought of the cupcakes she’d baked for Patty the night of the older woman’s birthday while Josh watched. It seemed like so long ago, but she can still smell the frosting she prepared with such care, and the wafting scent of vanilla rising from the pastries when she gently pulled them from the oven. She remembered the pride she felt as she packed them. And she remembered not allowing Josh to touch a single cupcake of that batch, offering instead to make him another, and him staring wearily at her for the rest of the night. Him asking her if she was jealous of Alex. The cupcakes seemed like a tool in some twisted courtship Ellen hadn’t fully been aware of at the time. Or, maybe she just didn’t care to evaluate her actions because they were having too much fun.

 

Shaking herself back to present time, she closed her daughter’s notebook and set it back down on the kitchen table.

 

She considered advising the girl to change subjects, but the meant relinquishing control, and she was not about to do that to herself. Not when she had been doing so well this whole time. She had two choices, coward away from the mere mention of the woman’s name and suggest Sophie research Hillary Clinton, or she could help her write the most detailed, most insightful paper any fifteen year old had ever written—and if she could allow herself to freely indulge in a rare Patty Hewes chapter revision, then so be it.

 

“Sophie! Do you need help with this paper?”

 

 


End file.
